Fear of making sales calls can be as overwhelming as a water fall

I was going in feeling somewhat cocky because I had done my homework. When I’d reviewed their website, I made notes about what would improve it as part of the suggestions I would give to take their marketing efforts up a notch or two.

Imagine my shock when my clients showed me the screen of the new website. It was lovely. Then, because they are still developing it, I thought I would continue giving my feedback on what to change in the new one. Most of what I said, they’d already known and were changing. What do I do now?

Fortunately, several years ago I heard a spiritual leader advise the audience to always ask before a class, “What do I have to learn? What do I have to teach?” I’ve learned to apply this to any interaction. It’s a reminder that Life offers me opportunities to grow if I stay open to learning. This means, I have to listen to the other people in the meeting, not just talk.

If you apply this mindset to your sales calls, consulting sessions, and public speaking, it silences your mental self-talk about yourself by turning on your curiosity about your prospects, clients, and audiences. To get over your fears about prospect meetings, focus on their problems and desires, needs and wants. That’s what they care about. You’ll find yourself more comfortable in strange situations. Don’t tell them about what you know, ask first. Only then can you really learn what’s important to them.

This attitude and soft sell sales approach worked wonders because shortly I became involved in a discussion with my clients. We talked about their concerns and what they already knew so I could deepen their understanding and, in some cases, propose a different tack to the course of their sales material putting the emphasis on their customer’s concerns. My goal was to help them boost their sales and marketing up a notch.

The result was a really fun meeting. I had a ball! They seemed to enjoy it too because one of my clients commented on how much he enjoyed watching me because of my passion.

In my experience yesterday, I overcame the fear about conducting a consulting session when I put attention on them. I relaxed then and enjoyed the meeting. This is way to make your fear of making sales calls disappear too or at least of making it manageable. Prospects and clients have a reason for investing their time with you: they want help with their problems or desires, wants and needs. Focus on them and on what can you do to help make their lives a little better or more successful — you’ll be to busy to notice that you were afraid or nervous.